R&B/Hip-Hop
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With the back-to-back frenzy of Grammy Week and Super Bowl LIX officially at our doorsteps, all eyes are on Kendrick Lamar as he uses the two marquee events to segue into his forthcoming North American stadium tour. Last week (Jan. 23), the Compton rapper and Apple Music released a new teaser for his upcoming halftime performance; the clip found SZA, his Grand National tourmate, playfully dumping a container of blue Gatorade on Lamar, confirming her guest appearance during his Super Bowl set.
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Lamar, of course, KO’d Drake in last year’s seismic rap battle — and 2025 already has some sparring of its own. On Can’t Rush Greatness (Jan. 24), his long-awaited debut album, UK rapper Central Cee threw some shots at fellow British MC Aitch, spitting, “I felt like a p—k when I went to the BRITs and they gave the award to a guy called Aitch/ I had my acceptance speech prepared like, ‘Long live F’s,’ I’m goin’ insane.” Mere hours later, Aitch responded with a tract titled “A Guy Called?”; “Little boy is just there to be spun, gettin’ mad at the BRITs, there’s bare to be won,” the Manchester-based rapper snarled. Time will tell if the Cench-Aitch battle can hold a candle to the Kendrick-Drake one.
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In heavier news, the hip-hop community also spent the weekend mourning the losses of journalist and screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper and DJ Unk, the iconic voice behind Billboard Hot 100 hits like “Walk It Out” (No. 10).
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Youssoupha’s rousing call to action to BigXThaPlug and Jessie Murph’s new cross-genre duet. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Youssoupha, “Prose Combat”
As anxiety sweeps the U.S. — and as protests sweep the rest of the world — in the wake of a new American presidential administration, artists are continuing to use their music to speak truth to power. Across “Prose Combat,” a stunning lyrical exercise taken from Amour Supreme, his eighth studio LP, French rapper Youssoupha calls for liberation for oppressed people across the world, from Rwanda to Mali. “Besoin d’une vraie solution ou d’une révolution pour renverser le royaume de Macron/ Besoin de voir l’Afrique jamais résignée, qu’elle arrête de croire que Poutine est plus stylé,” he spits over Akatché & A2B’s gritty production, demanding the dissolution of invisible colonial empires before voicing his support for the Palestinian people at the end of the first verse. “Besoin de grandes gueules quand personne ne dit rien, besoin d’une terre pour l’État Palestinien/ Besoin d’éviter de gros scandales, toute ma vie, j’suis fatigué du prose combat, mais voilà.” — KYLE DENIS
Central Cee & Lil Durk, “Truth in the Lies”
Central Cee’s Can’t Rush Greatness album already gives the U.K. rhymer an early rap album of the year candidate. Cench and Durk connecting has been years in the making and the intercontinental duo didn’t disappoint. “Truth in the Lies” finds Cench and Smurk getting honest about their hesitancies about love in the spotlight over Ne-Yo’s “So Sick.” Central Cee details women switching up on him unless he’s supporting them financially while Durk lives by the famous “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” adage. — MICHAEL SAPONARA
BigXthaPlug feat. Jessie Murph, “Holy Ground”
Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug just dropped the deluxe edition of Take Care featuring several new tracks, including the Jessie Murph-assisted “Holy Ground.” An anthem of resilience and self-empowerment, “Holy Ground” finds the two stars acknowledging life’s struggles while maintaining their pride and strength. Murph’s emotive chorus conveys how hardships become a part of us, with the “smoking gun” symbolizing the unavoidable challenges that shape our lives. BigXthaPlug’s verse reflects on the harsh realities of success — from betrayal to unmet expectations — while reinforcing that loyalty and hard work are the true measures of success. — CHRISTOPHER CLAXTON
Aqyila, “Focus”
Rising Canadian R&B artist Aqyila has been making steady waves for years with tracks like 2023’s JUNO Award-winning “Hello,” and she’s looking to maintain that momentum in 2025. Co-written with Sam Hook and produced by Monro, “Focus” finds Aqyila seductively cooing over a sultry uptempo R&B track that employs dancehall-adjacent synths and Afrobeats-nodding drum patterns. “I need you to focus, give me all your attention/ The slippery slope is when I get your attention,” she croons in the hook, sightly dipping into a bit of a staccato delivery that contrasts nicely with her airy, languid riffs in the pre-chorus. It’s the modulation in the final chorus, however, that really highlights how precise Aqyila’s vocal acrobatics are in the uppermost reaches of her voice. — K.D.
Jordan Adetunji & Bryson Tiller, “305”
“Kehlani” was just the tip of the iceberg for Jordan Adetunji, who showcases his range of flows and a blend of Jersey club, R&B and rap sounds throughout his A Jaguar’s Dream debut project. From Belfast to Miami, Adetunji and Bryson Tiller indulge in everything Vice City has to offer. “305” meshes moody R&B that The Weeknd would lend his croon to with an uptempo electronic twist that would make anyone floor the gas pedal cruising along Ocean Drive. — M.S.
Kacy Hill & 6LACK, “Time’s Up”
Kacy Hill joined forces with 6LACK on “Time’s Up”, a track she initially penned in 2019 and later brought to life by sliding into his DMs. Co-written with Ryan Beatty and produced by Jim-E Stack, the song explores the beauty of taking time in a relationship, valuing the moments spent together. The chorus, with its repeated theme of “takin’ my time,” emphasizes the intention to savor the connection and let things unfold naturally. 6LACK’s verse contrasts the natural high of love with the chaos in his life, touching on the complexities and vulnerabilities of intimacy. Kacy Hill’s verses highlight the clarity and joy the relationship brings, with everything else fading away in their shared moments. “Time’s Up” captures a peaceful contentment, reminding us of the importance of being present and truly appreciating those we care about. — C.C.
1900Rugrat & Kodak Black, “One Take Freestyle (Remix)”
1900Rugrat made some noise in Florida with his “U.O.E.N.O.”-sampling “One Take Freestyle” last year, and the burgeoning rapper is carrying his winning streak into 2025. Kodak Black took notice of Rugrat’s movement and hopped on the official remix for his fellow Sunshine State native. Yak tackles growing from his past, “I admit, I said a lot of dumbass shit when I was a youngin” and pushes back against colorist allegations. “I’m the one, lil’ b—h said I’m a colorist, how the f–k, b—h? I love my mother,” he snarls. — M.S.
Naïka, “Layers”
Naïka refuses to be boxed in. The French-Haitian singer grapples with her identity issues and the labels society continued to throw at her growing up on the soothing “Layers.” She cathartically flips the angst into a gentle guitar ballad while encouraging listeners to celebrate the beauty naturally within themselves. “I hate the boxes, they suffocate me,” she sings. “Baby, all these layers keep me warm and make me me.” — M.S.
Charlie Bereal, “Some People”
Charlie Bereal opens “Some People” with this ethereal chant: “Communicate/ Make a friend/ Teach someone/ Share with them/ Get together/ Start your own/ Build together/ Make it better.” More than a hook that perfectly complements his and Josef Liemberg’s lush, sweeping and soulful soundscape, it’s a much-needed reminder of what we can do on an interpersonal level to make the world an easier place to exist within. With a buttery falsetto that exudes the same warmth his lyrics exalt, Charlie Bereal emerges from his latest LP, Walk With the Father, as one of contemporary soul’s most exciting new artists. — K.D.
Abir, “Butterflies”
The hiatus is over, Abir returns with her first single in four years with the intoxicating “Butterflies” — and she’s back in her R&B bag. The L.A.-based Moroccan singer makes her sweet escape as a fluttery Abir serenades a certain lover who completes her existence. “You’re supplying me with what I need to push the clouds away/ Even a knife is like a sunny day,” she admits while showcasing her mellifluous vocal range. — M.S.
Kai Cenat didn’t become the most popular Twitch streamer in hip-hop by holding back his real opinions. So while speaking to Billboard for his January cover story, he didn’t hold back when it came to his takes on the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar rap war of 2024.
In conversation with Billboard‘s deputy editorial director Damien Scott, Cenat — who once FaceTimed Drizzy on his Twich livestream — began by saying, “I’m cool with Drake.”
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“So people would expect me to be on Drake’s side,” he continued. “But I’m not going to lie. Kendrick won that battle.”
Cenat was one of countless hip-hop fans who was locked in during the Toronto native and Dot’s musical conflict last spring, during which the two rappers lobbed searing diss tracks at each other throughout April and May. The streamer reacted to the drops in real time on his channel, with Drake notably instructing him to “stay on stream” before releasing “Family Matters” in May.
“I loved every second of it,” Cenat told Billboard of the musical back-and-forth. “I was just appreciating the moment. Like, bro, we got bangers right now that’s dropping back to back and everybody’s talking about them. It was definitely fire.”
Things took a turn in November, however, when Drake filed two legal actions against Universal Music Group over Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — the two-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper in which the Compton musician famously calls his opponent a “certified pedophile.” The “God’s Plan” artist accused the label of inflating the track’s streams through nefarious methods and cited defamation, alleging that UMG “could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed.”
Earlier this month, Drake escalated things further by launching a full-blown lawsuit against UMG; the label has denied the allegations in his suit and called it “illogical.” Cenat also just so happened to be mentioned in the filing. The Degrassi alum’s lawyers named him and a few other streamers who reacted to “Not Like Us” when it dropped as examples of UMG “whitelisting” the song, something Cenat also reacted to on a stream.
“Wait, why am I in this s–t?” he asked his viewers at the time, baffled. “Wait, hold on! Wait, what the f—? I’m getting sued?!”
See Cenat on the cover of Billboard below.
Snoop Dogg has been feeling the backlash after his performance at the Crypto Ball at Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month, and he appeared to clap back at the haters during a recent Instagram Live.
Snoop seemingly addressed the comments on Sunday (Jan. 26) while sitting in a car and sparking up. “It’s Sunday I got gospel in my heart,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram. “For all the hate I’m going to answer with love, I love too much.”
He continued to fire: “Get your life right, stop worrying about mine. I’m cool. I’m together. Still a Black man. Still 100 percent Black. All out ’til you ball out or ’til you fall out.”
Snoop wasn’t the only rapper in attendance, as Rick Ross and Soulja Boy also pulled up to the Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C., while Nelly performed at the Liberty Ball on Jan. 20.
He’s seen plenty of vitriol in his comments section on social media, as many have called him a “sellout.”
Over the weekend, Snoop addressed how he deals with the negativity while joining the R&B Money Podcast.
“You ‘gon deal with hate when you get to the top, no matter who you are. How do you deal with that hate? Do you answer it with hate, or do you answer with love and success?” he said. “Me, personally, I answer it with success and love. That’s my answer to any hate and negativity that comes my way, ‘cause it’s the strongest force that can beat it.”
Actor Marlon Wayans also came to the Death Row legend’s defense during a recent interview with 101.1’s The Wiz. “I know Snoop, and I know Snoop has always been a real one … I’m not gonna allow for public skewering,” Wayans said.
Snoop Dogg was previously very critical of Donald Trump, and he appeared to change his tune following Trump’s pardoning of Death Row co-founder Michael ‘Harry O’ Harris, who was behind bars on attempted murder and cocaine trafficking charges, before the twice-impeached president left the White House at the end of his first term.
“That’s great work for the president and his team on the way out,” Snoop Dogg reportedly said in 2021. “They did some great work while they was in there and they did some great work on their way out. Let them know that I love what they did.”
More recently, Snoop stated he had “nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump” during an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times.
As “sexy drill” continues to solidify its place in the New York drill scene, frontrunners like Bay Swag are becoming synonymous with the subgenre’s success. With the forthcoming project Damaged Thoughts in the works, he isn’t letting the sexy drill wave fade out anytime soon.
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Last year, the Queens native teamed up with mini-genre architect Cash Cobain on his biggest hit, “Fisherrr.” Pronounced “fur-shur,” the sensual, R&B-meets-drill track achieves liftoff with a celestial melody and a pared-down flow. Fueled by a viral live performance and the Reemskii dance challenge (created by dancer and artist Kareem “Reem” Gadson), “Fisherrr” became an instant TikTok hit.
“We made the song at the end of 2023,” Bay tells Billboard. “We teased it, then it started going viral on TikTok. Then, me and Cash were like, ‘Yo, we gotta do [From the Block],’ he said, referring to the popular live music platform where up-and-coming artists perform viral songs in front of a suspended mic.
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Their live rendition for that series racked up 2.7 million views on Youtube — then in April, the pair followed up with a remix featuring Ice Spice to solidify the track’s slot in summer rotations. Operation: Slizzy Summer was in full effect.
Before Bay Swag helped spur a new wave in New York, he created local buzz at 16 years old with his debut “Rumors.” He followed up with “Saucin,” a track dedicated to his father, Bay Lloyd, who was sentenced to 85 years in prison for a second-degree murder charge from 2012. Lloyd built a reputation in Queens as a party promoter, and toured with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest and Swizz Beatz, eventually motivating his son’s musical aspirations.
In 2015, a chance meeting with Christian “King” Combs and Justin Combs during NBA All Star Weekend paved the way for him to join Christian’s rap collective, CYN. They collaborated on a handful of tracks, including Christian’s 2017 breakout single “Type Different,” featuring South Florida rapper Lajan Slim.
The track dropped during the same time Swag was introduced to an up-and-coming Bronx rapper and producer, Cash Cobain. The pair didn’t collaborate until 2021 when sexy drill infiltrated New York’s regional sound and TikTok. Swag’s playful, nonchalant style blends seamlessly into Cobain’s stripped-down R&B and drill samples. They proved an undisputed match on “Fisherrr,” and fanned Bay Swag’s momentum with their follow-up “Worldwide Sniper.” Cobain’s moody soundscape bolsters Bay Swag’s lothario tales. He curtailed the one-hit TikTok sensation curse with spontaneous one-offs, including “Nothing Last Forever,” “Patti Labelle,” and “Skims” featuring D Lou.
On his upcoming project, he navigates the emotional aftermath of a breakup on the Lil’ Mo-sampled “Make it,” while on “5 Star,” he reunites with Cobain and Chow Lee to put a “slizzy” spin on Selli Paper’s “5 Star Mami.” On the intoxicating club track “Drank,” featuring Detroit heavyweight 42 Dugg, he briefly departs from the project’s Y2K-inspired production into the menacing territory of Detroit drill. He stacks his carefree staccato bars with Dugg’s gravelly vocals and thumping 808s, boasting about the fast lifestyle, laced with sex and substances.
On the verge of dropping his first project in three years, Bay Swag spoke to Billboard on how sexy drill is uniting a new generation of drill artists, how “Fisherrr” came together and more.
Growing up with a father who was in the industry, which genres or artists initially influenced your interest in music?
My dad had me around [music] so much that I felt like it was the only thing for me to do. Being in the studio, in the car surrounded by music, that’s how I got the love for it. I grew up in a house full of women so my mom used to always play a lot of Keyshia Cole, Chris Brown, Trey Songz – a lot of R&B. My dad had me listening to rap [like] Future, Jadakiss, Juelz [Santana], Jim Jones, Biggie, stuff like that.
You made a splash with “Rumors” and “Saucin” when you were just a teenager, which also led to you joining King Comb’s collective, CYN. What were those earlier days in your career like and how did you link up with Christian Combs?
Around those times, I started taking music seriously. It was during the time my father got incarcerated, so I became the man of the household. That’s when I dropped “Saucin,” which was a song about my dad and him being wrongfully convicted.
After that, it was All Star Weekend. Me and my cousins were in the car and I had actually met Justin [Combs] a couple years before that at a club in Queens. Fast forward to All Star Weekend, we seen they were out here, and my cousin was like, “Yo. I bet you I hit him and he’ll answer before you.” So I hit him and he hit him and Justin ended up answering me. We had a connection because one of my homies from Queens was running with them. He hit me and asked what I was doing. He was like, “Yo. We about to go to the club, but I’ll link you with my little brother.”
So he sent me a driver to go to his little brother, which is Christian — and my cousin stayed with him, since they’re the same age. Literally, I just walked in. I don’t know these people from a hole in the wall. I walked into the restaurant and was like “Wassup.” We clicked just like that. From there on, history. [Laughs.] Isn’t that crazy though?
How did you transition from making music in Miami with the Combs brothers to linking up with Cash Cobain, Chow Lee, and the Sexy Drill cohort?
Queens is small. Everyone knows everyone. I had a buzz and [Cash] had a buzz in our younger days. One of my homies would always tell me he got this producer, so one day he came into the studio with me and brought some beats. That’s how we met.
Was this around his 2 Slizzy 2 Sexy era?
This was a while ago. Way before that. Like around 2017. Fast forward, I opened up a studio in New Jersey and he used to come to the studio. That’s how we really clicked. Him and Chow. That was around 2020-2021. We started making music and hanging with each other.
What was it like to see “Fisherrr” all over social media and blow up on TikTok?
We knew it was a fire song, but we didn’t know it was going to be the way it is. I feel like you never know. The songs you think is a hit don’t do nothing, but the songs you least expect [end up being] the one. It’s a blessing seeing all the kids, dancers and influencers dancing to it and having a good time. It really started a whole new dance. Shoutout Reemo. He started that s–t. It’s a whole new wave of music. It’s a whole new energy.
How did the feature with Ice Spice happen? Was it intentional to have a female rapper on the remix?
It just made sense. She’s the Queen of New York. I was super excited. I wanted to hear how she would come on it because that’s not the typical music she be dropping. She did her thing. Shout out Ice Spice.
Over the last year, you’ve been consistently releasing singles and helping spur this sexy drill wave. How are you putting your signature spin on this sound?
I call it being myself — and that’s a problem, too. A lot of people will try to do sexy drill and try to sound like someone, when you can just be yourself and that’ll make a difference. That’s why people will say it all sounds alike.
You’ve also mentioned in past interviews that New York artists are more united. How is it making music in this era of New York?
It’s good vibes. Especially right now, sexy drill is good energy. Even when we’re recording the music, it’s good energy. We’re dancing and we’re just having fun together.
In the past, drill has been criticized for its violent lyrics. How are you, Cash and Chow helping to rewrite that narrative?
We’re talking to the women. We’re telling them how pretty they are and how sexy they are. It’s a big difference. It’s fun. It makes you want to dance. We got the kids, elders, and the women, of course. We are trying to separate ourselves from that. We don’t want violence. We just want good vibes, good energy and good parties.
From your new project, it’s interesting you chose to release “Not Like Me,” because it’s the opposite of sexy drill and more vulnerable. What inspired that track?
On that song I was talking about the relationship I just got out of. I was rapping about how I felt when the relationship was ending. It lasted for like seven years, so I was describing how I was feeling during, after, and how I feel now.
How are you feeling now?
Amazing!
You also linked up with Sheff G for one of your features on the new project? How did you two meet?
I think it was on Instagram. One of us hit each other up. He told me to come to the studio and that’s how it happened. It was bound to happen because we were on a lot of the same shows together and would see each other a lot.
Are there any artists out right now that you want to collaborate with in the future?
I want to do music with a female artist. I like Latto. I like the music she drops. I like Sexyy [Red], SZA, Summer Walker. I really really like Dej Loaf. The female artists are doing their thing right now. I have to salute them.
You’re coming off a really big year. What do you have in store for fans this year?
I have merch coming with Barriers [Worldwide] and a lot of new music coming. I’ve worked with a lot of dope artists and I can’t wait for the world to hear it. I have a label called Nothing About Us Regular. And in 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, I want all my artists to be huge. I want my producers to have a great year. I’m building my label. I’m a young CEO. I want my artists to be bigger than me. I have so much in store for 2025.
While Diddy remains behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting his day in court, many of his alleged victims and those who knew him best throughout the rise and fall of Combs’ Bad Boy empire are speaking out. Investigation Discovery’s The Fall of Diddy docuseries premieres on Discovery+ at 9 p.m. on Monday […]
LISA couldn’t be more excited to paint the town red with Doja Cat, whom she called her “dream” duet partner ahead of the duo’s upcoming “Born Again” collaboration with Raye.
In a new interview with Capital Breakfast‘s Jordan North posted Monday (Jan. 27) — seemingly filmed before the BLACKPINK star announced her new project featuring Doja and the “Escapism” musician on Jan. 24 — LISA was immediately ready with her answer when asked which artist is her “dream” collaborator. “I want to team up with Doja Cat,” she said, smiling excitedly.
The Thai performer coyly said that she wasn’t sure if she could call Doja a friend just yet, but noted that they’re both “in the same company.” Both LISA and the “Woman” musician are signed to RCA Records, the former in partnership with her self-owned LLOUD company and the latter through RCA’s Kemosabe Records imprint.
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The interview comes three days after LISA announced that she was joining forces with Doja and Raye on “Born Again,” sharing a chic photograph of the trio posing in glamorous black cocktail dresses on Instagram. The girl group star also revealed at the time that the new track will drop 7 p.m. ET on Feb. 6.
A few weeks after “Born Again,” LISA’s debut solo album, Alter Ego, will arrive Feb. 28. So far, the K-pop phenom has released three singles from the project: “Rockstar,” which reached No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100, “New Woman” with Rosalia and “Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me).”
Recorded partially in Thailand while LISA was filming The White Lotus — “I don’t sleep,” she joked on Capital Breakfast of making her acting debut and music at the same time — Alter Ego will find the star exploring five different inner personas, each of which have their own names and character traits. Her favorite is one named Vixi, she revealed on the show, because “she’s the bada–, she’s a villain.”
“I was trying so many different kinds of music styles while I was recording,” LISA added of her album. “I was like, ‘Oh, well I’ve never done this kind of stuff before, but it sounds great. Why not just kind of like put all the different styles into the album and call it Alter Ego?’”
As for Doja, the Los Angeles native hasn’t dropped an album since 2023’s Scarlet, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. Her most recent project wasn’t music-related at all, but rather a charitable undertaking supporting wildfire relief in her home city; earlier this month, the Grammy winner unveiled a line of custom merchandise that’ll funnel 100% of its proceeds to the American Red Cross’ efforts in Southern California as the L.A. area rebuilds from the deadly fires that have left tens of thousands of residents displaced with immeasurable damages to the city’s infrastructure.
See the “Born Again” announcement below.
Nominees: “After Hours” (Diovanna Frazier, Alex Goldblatt, Kehlani Parrish, Khris Riddick-Tynes & Daniel Upchurch); “Burning” (Ronald Banful & Temilade Openiyi); “Here We Go (Uh Oh)” (Sara Diamond, Sydney Floyd, Marisela Jackson, Courtney Jones, Carl McCormick & Kelvin Wooten); “Ruined Me” (Jeff Gitelman, Priscilla Renea & Kevin Theodore); “Saturn” (Rob Bisel, Carter Lang, Solána Rowe, Jared Solomon & Scott Zhang)
Analysis: It’s always a good sign when a song earns nominations in both songwriting and performance categories, which means Coco Jones (“Here We Go”) and SZA (“Saturn”) have particularly strong chances at taking this one home. Jones won best R&B performance last year with “ICU,” but lost best R&B song to SZA’s “Snooze.” “Saturn,” though a hit, wasn’t as big of a smash as “Snooze,” but SZA’s seemingly unstoppable momentum and forthcoming co-headlining North American stadium tour with Kendrick Lamar (a seven-time nominee this year), could help her win the trophy.
Nonetheless, the frontrunner across the R&B field is probably Muni Long. Revenge didn’t exactly light the charts on fire (it missed both the Billboard 200 and genre-specific album rankings), but the record spawned three consecutive top three Adult R&B Airplay singles, including the chart-toppers “Ruined Me” and “Make Me Forget.” With “Ruined Me” earning a lot of love from R&B circles and Long remaining a consistent cultural presence via performances and candid music industry revelations, this could very well be the Year of Muni Long.
Kehlani earned three nods this year, and this is her first nomination in this category. “After Hours” was one of the few uptempo R&B hits from the last year, which could help its chances in a songwriting category. Tems‘ “Burning” probably has the same chance of winning as “After Hours”; it’s a poignant track that finds the crossover star soaring in a leading role after being a key featured player on Grammy-approved hits like Future‘s “Wait For U” and Wizkid‘s “Essence.”
We’ll call this category for Muni Long; “Ruined Me” is fresh, commercially successful, critically acclaimed, and features the most-nominated R&B artist of the night.
Prediction: Muni Long, “Ruined Me”
Look Out For: SZA, “Saturn”
Kai Cenat — the eternally upbeat streamer whose profile has exploded in recent years to make him the most popular personality on the Amazon-owned Twitch platform — is taking a moment to think.
In the five years or so since he’s become a full-time content creator, Cenat has had some of the most famous hip-hop artists, athletes and actors come to his house to drop in and join the “chat,” the affectionate word he uses for any of the 700,000-plus people who subscribe to his channel. He’s thinking over whether he can recall a favorite moment among so many, but it’s tough. It wasn’t when SZA and Lizzo stopped by together in the fall, nor when NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving taught Cenat’s friends and family how to play basketball. It would be reasonable to think it might be one of the many times Kevin Hart, one of his idols, swung by to kick it during the holidays.
Sitting in the basement room of his mountainside Georgia mansion, the 23-year-old needs a beat or two to consider the options. The room is a temple of adolescence, with pictures of his favorite basketball players, vintage arcade machines like Pac-Man and a gaming racing wheel. He has a huge walk-in closet and a king-size bed, both of which are being used by his three-person styling team. The only part of the room that hints at some sort of professional living there is the desk at one end that contains the computer and camera setup that power his streaming empire. Dressed in a BAPE hoodie and stonewashed denim that make him look like he’s straddling sartorial eras, Cenat finally settles on an answer: The May weekend last year when Drake and Kendrick Lamar dropped a total of four songs, three of them back to back.
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“That was the most fun experience I’ve had,” he says with a smile bright enough to power a Tesla. “I’m not going to lie.” It’s tough to tell if he’s actually super excited or just trying to manage his constant and unbridled childlike energy.
“We never experienced something like that,” he explains. “It was a good week. Everybody had their opinions. I was literally hopping on stream and had like 60,000 viewers. As soon as they dropped, my s–t was spiked to like 100,000.”
When it came to the beef that ended up taking over hip-hop for the better part of 2024, most popular streamers took sides or called winners, and Cenat was no different. “I’m cool with Drake,” he says. “So people would expect me to be on Drake’s side.
“But I’m not going to lie,” he continues. “Kendrick won that battle. It was good. I loved every second of it. I was just appreciating the moment. Like, bro, we got bangers right now that’s dropping back to back and everybody’s talking about them. It was definitely fire.”
Kody Phillips top, Louis Vuitton pants, AMIRI hat, Jacob & Co. watch.
Andrew Hetherington
For a person who makes a living by staring straight into a camera for hours on end and connecting with strangers, appearing truthful and genuine is crucial — and it’s one of Cenat’s superpowers. It’s what has allowed him to not only become the most popular streamer on Twitch, but also the most popular streamer in hip-hop and, arguably, one of the most powerful people in all music. No other streamer has been able to corral as many artists to be a part of their online world as Cenat has — and very few have earned the cultural respect from fans and artists that he has. His words hold so much weight that he’s able to materially affect the careers of the superstars his fans care about. That’s why during that weekend in May, Drake told Cenat to “stay on stream” before dropping his “Family Matters” dis track — he knew a good review from the jovial streamer would bode well for him not only in his sales, but in his battle with Lamar. But it’s also why, after the streamer said Drake’s “The Heart Part 6” was weak, Drake allegedly blocked him.
That’s just one of many major moments Cenat has driven for music’s biggest stars over the past few years. He’s had spats with Nicki Minaj, Blueface and Ye, though he eventually made up with all of them. (Minaj even gifted him a pink throne that he proudly keeps in his bedroom and doesn’t let anyone sit on.) Most recently, while on a stream in early January, he panned Lil Baby’s highly anticipated fourth album, WHAM, even questioning why certain songs were added to it. WHAM trended on X — mainly due to jokes about Lil Baby being washed. While it’s unfair to attribute to Cenat the initial negative reaction Baby’s album received on social media, he had a significant hand in spreading the sentiment that it wasn’t Baby’s best work. That’s just the power Cenat holds in 2025: He’s a self-made institution. Like EF Hutton, when Cenat talks, people listen.
All of that has made him, for all intents and purposes, the closest thing Gen Z has to 106th & Park or TRL, the erstwhile midday live-music shows that used to air on BET and MTV and were appointment viewing for any fans wanting updates on their favorite artists. Cenat’s stream is now the main place to tune in to see artists having fun and feeling comfortable enough to let loose and relax. “Yeah, people will be saying that,” he says with an impish grin. “For everyone to come to play music or just have a fun interaction, it means a lot to me, honestly, because I didn’t think, out of everybody, they would want to come over to my house. I still haven’t got to like really let it sit in and really let it digest, but it does mean a lot to me, and I’m just having fun as I go on.”
Building a platform to rival the biggest cable music stations of the 1990s and early 2000s should take at least a decade — but it’s important to understand how quickly all this has happened. Cenat, who first started posting on YouTube in 2019, is not an overnight success. But considering how integral he’s become to the cultural fabric, you could be forgiven for thinking he’s been ingrained in the hip-hop internet landscape forever.
Before first appearing on the platform, the Bronx-born creator had moved to Georgia at a young age with his mother and siblings, living in a homeless shelter while his mother worked multiple jobs to create a better life for them. It was tough, but Cenat says with his trademark positivity that he doesn’t remember those times as rough or bad. The family eventually made its way back to New York, and Cenat enrolled at SUNY Morrisville to study business administration. In search of a creative outlet, he started posting funny skits on YouTube. For Cenat, the decision was a no-brainer: “I watched YouTubers growing up — that’s why I understand it so well.”
Andrew Hetherington
Andrew Hetherington
Mainly filmed in his dorm room and around campus, Cenat’s skits were low-rent affairs with minimal costumes or production where he came off as a slapstick comedian in the tradition of Martin Lawrence. His most viewed videos were his challenges, like the popular “Try Not To Laugh Challenge” that he still does to this day and clips like the Extreme Ding Dong Ditch series, which sounds crazy but was just Cenat and his friends playing the childhood game in different locations. They didn’t get massive traction, but they caught the eye of fellow Bronx-bred creator Fanum, who invited Cenat to join the AMP (Any Means Possible) collective of YouTube creators. Soon, Cenat was posting videos at an increasingly rapid pace, as well as appearing in clips by other AMP members.
By 2021, Cenat was ready to branch out from YouTube and grow his audience another way. He decided to try livestreaming and landed on Twitch, the platform Amazon acquired in 2014, as his new home. At the time, it was being used mainly by gamers to livestream gameplay while avid fans watched like a professional sport. Cenat enjoyed playing video games, but his first foray onto Twitch was through what are known as “just chatting” streams, where he’d sit down with a camera on his desk and, yep, just talk with his audience. By the end of his first day on Twitch, he had 5,000 followers. By the end of his first month, he had 70,000. The next month, 140,000 people tuned in.
Despite Cenat’s brand now being so closely associated with hip-hop, he didn’t start producing music content, really, until he started streaming. “When I started streaming, most of my content was blowing up based off me just reacting to different songs and listening to albums when they drop and just enjoying it for what it was and just saying, like, my opinions on it,” he remembers. “And then, like, people just loved it.”
In fact, he didn’t even listen to rap until he was a teenager. Growing up, “I did straight Michael Jackson up until high school” — which is when Cenat became a fan of a hometown hero who was then dominating the charts: A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. “That was my real transition,” he says. “I went from Michael Jackson to A Boogie, and I explored from then on.”
His musical exploration has fueled his Twitch channel’s growth: Thanks to his Mafiathons — monthlong 24-hour streaming marathons that he’s held with some of the most famous names in music, sports and entertainment — Cenat now has the most subscribers on Twitch (728,535 at press time) and holds its record for the most concurrent streamers at 720,000. He’s now also one of the richest streamers in the world, according to Forbes, which estimates his 2024 earnings at around $8.5 million. (Cenat declined to comment on his earnings.)
Andrew Hetherington
His manager, John Nelson, credits these streaming marathons with cementing the Kai Cenat brand. “His first 24-hour stream [in January 2023] is really when his trajectory went off,” Nelson says. “And it’s interesting — I believe it was that one that ended with Ice Spice [on camera]. Funny, because both of them took off at that same time. Two New York kids. And, you know, they were both very popular then, but they weren’t the megastars that they are today.” Each of Cenat’s Mafiathons has helped him not only grow his audience but also break Twitch records; the most recent, in November, featured a who’s who of pop culture that included Serena Williams, GloRilla, Sexyy Red and Druski that helped him break the record for most subscribers, with more than 340,000 new people paying $5.99 to join Club Cenat.
Yes, more than 720,000 people pay money to watch a 23-year-old talk about whatever comes to mind and prank his best friends. But why, exactly?
“I just think it’s the creativity,” Cenat says. “This is just the vibe I give off, like on my stream. I try to make it as fun as possible. And being able to, like, break ice with anybody who comes on.”
It’s the creativity, sure. But it’s the combination of that creativity with his comparatively radical sincerity that has endeared him to Fortune 500 companies like McDonald’s, T-Mobile and Nike. It’s also what drew the likes of Snoop Dogg, the veritable hip-hop pitchman who’s able to move between disparate worlds, to tap the young star to work together. And it’s the reason Hart, the blockbuster comedian who has mastered the art of multimodal content more than perhaps any other superstar, took a liking to him over any other streamer of the moment.
Cenat, much like Snoop and Hart, has built a brand on being genuinely unproblematic, which, combined with his affable demeanor, has appealed to an unusually large swath of people. Unlike several other popular streamers, he hasn’t delved into the incel echo chamber side of streaming culture that has, in part, been popularized by Twitch competitor Kick. The Australian-based streaming platform reportedly offered Cenat $60 million to switch to Kick, but he turned it down.
When asked why, Cenat struggles to articulate a clear metaphor. “Say, for example, you go to Steph [Curry] and you’re like, ‘Hey, man, we want you to be a running back [in] the NFL. You’re so good at basketball, but we want you to just leave everything behind right now and go to NFL football and be a running back,’ ” he says. “It doesn’t make sense! I’ve been on Twitch. I’ve built a core community. Kick is not my home. My home is definitely Twitch. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s what I live by.”
Andrew Hetherington
Andrew Hetherington
And, unlike a number of popular streamers, he’s managed to stay clear of the political discourse that dominated the conversation in 2024. “It’s just because I don’t understand it. Some people say I should just do some research on it and, like, inform myself,” Cenat explains. “Now, I’m living in America, so it’s good to know what’s going on in politics. But like, I’m just not educated enough to speak on that.”
On the early January day I sit down with Cenat, Adin Ross, the superstar Kick streamer who famously interviewed President Donald Trump and gifted him a Tesla Cybertruck, made a statement apologizing for “raising a toxic community” on the platform and vowed to do better. “I want to rebuild,” Ross said. “I want to actually completely revamp and reset everything. I want to go back to stuff that matters. With that being said, every stream that I do, especially at this point, until I say something else, is going to be something that’s heartwarming and something that’s meaningful.”
Sounds a lot like Cenat, doesn’t it? He brushes off the idea. Cenat believes a fan base is a reflection of the creator. “So if you feed it nonsense, you’ll get nonsense. [Ross] realized what happened and now he’s trying to make a big change.”
But regardless of how he frames it, Cenat still has major clout. On Aug. 4, 2023, a full-on riot ensued in New York’s Union Square when he announced to his massive audience that, to celebrate his first streaming marathon, he would be giving away PlayStation 5 consoles and gift cards there. But he didn’t have a permit. Around 3 p.m., large crowds started to form in Union Square, and police took notice when people began to destroy public and private property. The New York Police Department called in 1,000 officers to the scene — and then all hell broke loose. Cars were destroyed, store windows were broken, and seven people were injured, including three NYPD officers. Over 60 people were arrested, half of them minors. It was a rare dark day for Cenat — but it proved just how big his brand and celebrity had gotten.
In 2023, Cenat and his small team — his assistant/production partner Brianna Lewis, his videographers and manager Nelson — traveled to Nigeria. And when they stopped by Makoko, a small, impoverished waterfront settlement on the outskirts of Lagos, they realized they were out of their depth.
The village didn’t have broadly available internet like the city itself, so Cenat couldn’t stream. But what really caught him off guard was the state of the Makoko Children Development Foundation School and Orphanage. “I went over [to Nigeria] just to go visit it, see how it is, and I went out where I just seen things that I was like, damn,” he says. He decided then and there to at least try to help improve the town. “I stumbled across this school that they had in this very small school building. These small classes and the kids were so eager to learn even in the condition that they were in. Don’t get me wrong: When I went to Nigeria, I seen beautiful parts. They got great big houses, fire cars — like, Nigeria is beautiful. [But] the place where I went to was Makoko.”
His first plan was to just fund some renovations to the school, but soon that didn’t feel like enough. So he decided to give 20% of his earnings from his November Mafiathon 2 to build a brand-new school in Makoko. “Hopefully it comes out exactly like what I’m imagining,” he says. “They said it’s going to be done this year probably, and I want to go back to Nigeria and see how it is and [have] like a grand opening. I want to be able to stream that.”
Andrew Hetherington
Cenat’s work in Makoko offers a window into how he envisions his future. He has dreams of doing more with the streaming format, but also, maybe, leaving it all together. Though he loves streaming, he wants to act in and direct movies. (Not TV, though: In his words, “No one watches TV anymore.”) Hart, whom he now calls a friend, has been helping him prepare for that next stage of his career; Cenat won’t share specifics, but says Hart has given him certain movies to watch and has been advising him. “I would love to be in movies and stuff; he definitely pushes me,” Cenat says. “He tries to connect me to the right people that direct and write movies and produce them.”
Would he leave streaming behind for Hollywood? Perhaps — but not right now. “Our good friend, [YouTube superstar] Mr. Beast, was like, ‘Why would you use something that you’re so good at to catapult you into another category? Just be completely dominant in the category that you’re in right now and just take over that.’ And I’m like, ‘Damn, he does make a good point.’ ”
His current solution to the conundrum: eschew Hollywood entirely and produce a movie on his own. “I want to be able to, like, put it out to the world,” he says. “I’m going to take a hit financially. But like, I want to be able to put it out to the world and just see if a company will pick it up.”
For the moment, Cenat remains laser focused on streaming. After all, his is one of the only streams that can genuinely help (or hurt) an artist’s career, at least in his mind. When Cenat panned GloRilla’s 2023 single “Cha Cha Cha” with Fivio Foreign, the Memphis MC blocked him on social media. He felt he was just being honest. “If there’s some bad music, I’m going to let you know it’s bad,” he says. However, according to Cenat, after their dustup, Glo glowed up. “We’re good friends now. And ever since I told her that one song was bad, she’s been making hits!” He’s not wrong. Ever since that spat, Glo has notched five songs in the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.
And when the biggest names in entertainment are DM’ing and texting you to ask to visit your crib and hop on your stream, what could possibly measure up next? Going bigger — even bigger than the movies. “I want to go to space!” Cenat exclaims. “I want to be the first human in space to float around, [stream] and talk my talk to my chat and then come back down to Earth.”
He’s serious, too. He wants to do everything he wanted to do as a kid, living and dreaming in that homeless shelter. “I want to have the whole Avengers on my stream one day,” he says with the enthusiasm of a middle schooler. “I really believe that’s going to happen one day.”
This story appears in the Jan. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Manchester-based rapper Aitch has fired back at Central Cee after the latter dissed him on his recently-released album Can’t Rush Greatness (Jan. 24).
On the LP’s “5 Star,” Central Cee (real name Oakley Neil Caesar-Su) came for Aitch in a line that referenced the latter winning a BRIT Award over him at the 2023 ceremony. Aitch triumphed in the hip-hop/grime/rap category over Central Cee, Dave, Loyle Carner and Stormzy. Central Cee has been nominated for the award a number of times and has yet to grab the prize
“I felt like a p—k when I went to the BRITs and they gave the award to a guy called Aitch/ I had my acceptance speech prepared like, ‘Long live F’s,’ I’m goin’ insane,” he said. The latter line references Central Cee’s close friend Fernando “FDot Johnson” who was murdered in January 2023.
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Later that afternoon (Jan. 24), the Manchester rapper responded to the diss with a track “A Guy Called?” which was uploaded directly to his Instagram with the caption “leave me alone” alongside a picture of his BRITs trophy. On the track’s opening line Aitch claims that Central Cee is an “influencer” and that he will “jump in the booth for something to do.”
Further references in the track allude to Cench’s BRITs barb, saying: “Little boy is just there to be spun, gettin’ mad at the BRITs, there’s bare to be won.” Later in the track, Aitch adds: “Bringin’ the BRITs up two years later, f— my life, you should go live yours.”
Elsewhere Aitch alleges that Central Cee employs ghostwriters (“All your songs get wrote by Clint, in the booth, one mic, two c—s”) and makes reference to Central Cee’s ethnicity (“Clint was p—d ’cause Cench got beat by a white MC, Cench is as white as me”). Speaking to British Vogue in 2024, Central Cee said that he was born to an English mother and a father of Guyanese and Chinese ancestry.
A number of their U.K. rap contemporaries including Kairo Keyz, ArrDee and M1llionz have commented on Aitch’s Instagram post. Central Cee responded to the track by commenting “fair enough” alongside a flame and laughing face emoji. Listen to the track below.
Aitch released his debut album Close to Home in 2022 and which reached No. 2 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
Central Cee is nominated once again in the hip-hop/grime/rap category at the 2025 BRITs which take place March 1, where he will go up against Dave, Ghetts, Little Simz and Stormzy for the prize.
Two days after the death of DJ Unk, the Atlanta rapper behind the 2006 snap hit “Walk It Out,” his wife has revealed the cause of his passing.
Sherkita Long-Platt, DJ Unk’s widow, confirmed on Friday (Jan. 24) that the rapper had died at the age of 43. In a heartfelt Facebook post, she wrote, “Please respect me and my family. I just lost my husband and my kids just lost their father. Our life will never be the same. I LOVE YOU ANTHONY FOREVER,” without disclosing the cause of death.
On Sunday (Jan. 26), Long-Platt shared with TMZ that her husband passed away in his sleep after suffering a cardiac arrest. She also addressed rumors circulating about DJ Unk’s possible involvement with substance abuse, clarifying that he had not struggled with drugs.
TMZ reports that a candlelight vigil for DJ Unk is planned for Sunday evening in his Atlanta neighborhood.
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Born Anthony Leonard Platt, DJ Unk was part of the Southern Style DJs before signing with Big Oomp Records in 2000. He made his debut with the single “Walk It Out” in August 2006, months ahead of his first album, Beat’n Down Yo Block!, which reached No. 21 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. “Walk It Out” peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on both Hot Rap Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
“I’m glad that it’s good energy and good vibes in the song ’cause they use it as far as work out dances, they use it in church, they use it for anything,” DJ Unk told Billboard at the 2023 BET Awards.
He also expressed his gratitude for André 3000’s verse on the remix of “Walk It Out,” which featured OutKast and Jim Jones. “I still can’t believe that to this day,” he said. “I never dreamed that he would get on a record like that because he’s so powerful as far as hip-hop and music and everything, so it’s a blessing. That was a dream come true. It was like doing a song with Michael Jackson.”
DJ Unk’s second single, “2Step,” from Beat’n Down Yo Block!, reached No. 24 on the Hot 100 and landed in the top 10 on both Hot Rap Songs and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The success of those tracks solidified DJ Unk as a leader of the snap subgenre of Southern hip-hop. His second album, 2econd Season, released in 2008, peaked at No. 15 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
More recently, GloRilla’s 2024 debut album, Glorious, features a sample of DJ Unk’s “Hold on Ho” from Beat’n Down Yo Block!